A Different Story (CURRENTLY ON HIATUS)
by thatchersheart
Summary: A different WCTH story. CURRENTLY ON HIATUS AS OF MAY 2018.
1. Chapter 1

Jack Thornton kissed his daughter's cheek as he turned and got on his horse. He tilted his hat towards the little girl before turning his horse and riding off.

"Bye bye Daddy." The almost five year old called, opening and closing her little hand as to wave. Jack looked back for a second and waved, and in a moment he was gone from the little girl's sight.

No one in the little town of Coal Valley knew much of the man or his daughter. Jack and Claire Thornton were a mystery to the town. Even though Jack was the Constable of the town, he never spoke of their past or little girl's mother.

* * *

 **Three Years Earlier**

The town of Coal Valley stood, crowded in front of the mine. The siren had gone off moments earlier, informing everyone that the last of the miner's bodies had been found.

"We have done what we promised and have retrieved the remaining miner's bodies from the mine. Amongst this, we also found something else that will bring hope to at least one Coal Valley family." The town's Mayor, Mr Gowen, said as he held up a piece of wood. The words _'Forgive me, pa'_ were carved into the wood.

"The Mining Company will look after this until we can think of something appropriate to do with it."

"One of our own spent his last moments carving that out into that piece of wood. The town should get to decide what happens to it." One of the men called out from the crowd.

"Unfortunately that isn't your decision to make." Mr Gowen argued back to the man. The man, clearly unhappy with the response began to charge towards the Mayor.

A flash of red caught everyone's attention as a man in a red jacket on a horse comes riding in, halting between the unhappy miner and the Mayor.

"What is going on here?" The Mountie asked professionally.

"We had a mining accident recently." Mr Gowen replied.

"I am aware. What is the problem?" The man asked again.

"We found this in the ruins. I was taking it back to my office until we can work out what to do with it and this young man isn't too happy with that." The Mayor stated.

"The sign belongs to one of the families, not the mining company." The miner yelled angrily.

"Calm down sir." The Mountie said to the miner. He then turned to Mr Gowen and continued.

"Here is what you are going to do. Get all the women to sample a piece of their husband's writing. Whoever's writing matches, the plank goes to. Do you think you can get it done in three days?"

"And who would you be exactly?" The Mayor tested.

"Constable Jack Thornton. I'm the new Constable of Coal Valley. You have three days." The Mountie, Jack, replied before turning his horse and riding off into the distance.

"You heard the Constable, ladies. Please submit a sample of your husband's writing so we can analyse and compare. Thank you." Mr Gowen informed the town before getting in his car and driving off.

* * *

A week later, a woman arrived on the stage coach. She was tall with dark hair and dark eyes. With her was a little girl, no older than two years old. The child was dressed in a small white dress and black shoes whereas the woman was dressed in a cream dress with a brown apron and vest. With her bags and the child in her arms, the woman proceeded to walk around the town.

She made her way to the saloon, where she was met by a shorter woman with blonde hair.

"Hello Miss. My name is Charlotte. I'm looking for Jack Thornton, do you know where I can find him?" The woman asked.

"I'm Abigail Stanton. Yes. He is upstairs in room seven. Would you like me to show the way? I could carry some of your bags if you'd like." Abigail offered kindly with a smile.

"No thank you. I'll be fine. Thank you for the help." Charlotte dismissed the woman and continued to Jack's room.

When she arrived at room seven, Charlotte put down the bags to knock on the door.

"Door's unlocked, come in." Jack's voice called from the other side of the door. Charlotte opened the door to reveal a clean hotel room, and Jack sitting at a desk shuffling through some papers.

"Well, I sure hope you don't plan to stay in here for long, Jack. You won't fit Claire's crib in here without it getting very cramped." The woman said.

"Thanks mom. I am aware. I'm finishing up the payments and paperwork for a row house behind the main street. It's a good deal, three bedrooms, furnished with everything except Claire's crib. It's pretty good rent so I'm not going to complain about it being a little far from the jail." Jack informed his mother.

"That's good. Hold your daughter and I'll find a place for these things." Charlotte said passing the little girl to her father.

"Hello beautiful girl. Were you good for Grandma?" Jack said to his daughter, facing her towards him on his lap.

"Dada." The little girl's face lit up as she spoke.

"She was very good. She missed you though." Charlotte interrupted, placing the bags in the corner of the room, opening one with the pieces of the child's crib.

"That's good. I missed you too, Claire. Thank you for looking after her, Mom." Jack said, looking at his daughter and then up to his mother.

"It was no issue." Charlotte said happily.

"Where will you be staying while you're here?" Jack asked.

"I'll order a room here. I'll help you set the house up and then I'll be back off to Hamilton." His mother replied.

"Thanks for your help. I don't know if I could have managed this without you." The man said thankfully.

"Will you be alright alone with Claire?" His mother asked, slight concern in her voice.

"Yes. We'll be fine." Jack assured, looking back at his daughter who was content in her father's lap.

"Good. Now let's get this crib set up." Charlotte said as she began to piece together the crib.


	2. Chapter 2

**Three years after Jack and Claire's arrival.**

Jack Thornton sat outside Abigail's café. A telegram in his hand and a coffee in front of him.

Jack had received the telegram days before, it was from Mountie Headquarters. Jack had been assigned an indefinite posting in the Northern Territories, leading a group of Mounties up there to take down the many gangs threatening the people's safety up there. It was a dangerous posting and he wouldn't be allowed to take his daughter.

He had asked and fought to stay in Coal Valley with his daughter. But he was desperately needed and had no choice. Super Intendent Collins couldn't change his new assignment, even though it meant taking him away from his daughter, of who he was the only parent of.

"Jack? Is everything okay?" A voice called from behind Jack, starling the man.

"Hi Abigail. No, I've been reassigned to a new posting." Jack sighed.

"You're leaving Coal Valley?" Abigail asked, surprised.

"Yes. I've been assigned to lead a group up in the Northern Territories. It's a dangerous posting and I won't be able to take Claire." Jack said, shifting his glance to the telegram then the floor.

"What do you mean? Where will she go?" Abigail questioned, incredibly worried.

"I haven't worked that out yet. I was thinking of getting her grandma to look after her, but she's busy working in Hamilton and can't look after her." Jack informed the older woman.

"What about Claire's mother? You never talk about her. Where is she?" Abigail questioned.

"I don't usually like to talk about her. I was married once, she died a month after Claire's first birthday. Claire doesn't remember her very much. It took a while, but I managed to get my strength back to look after Claire and start moving on." Jack admitted. It was the first time he had told anyone in Coal Valley about his wife.

"I'm so sorry. I know how it feels to lose a spouse." Abigail replied in a comforting tone.

"It was difficult, but we got there in the end. Moving to Coal Valley really helped. But now, I'll be leaving and I won't even get to take my little girl." The man said as the tiniest of tears rolled down his cheek. Jack never cried, in the years Abigail had known him, not once did he shed a single tear.

"I'm so sorry this is happening. Have you tried talking with Headquarters?" Abigail asked confidently, trying to find a way to help the man.

"Yes. I'm so desperately needed that they just cannot take back the reassignment. Not even for my daughter." Jack admitted.

"How long is the posting?" Abigail asked curiously, an idea forming in her head,

"It's indefinite. I could be gone a couple months or years. I'd maybe come back for Christmas but nothing more." Jack said, taking a sip of his now cold coffee.

"Jack, what if I took care of Claire while you are gone? She starts school in a month, I can work while she is at school and I'm sure Cody would love a friend to play with while Becky is away." The older woman suggested.

"Oh no Abigail. I couldn't ask you to do that." Jack quickly replied.

"It's my offer Jack. I honestly don't mind. Claire is a lovely and well behaved girl, it would be a pleasure to look after her." Abigail said kindly.

"I wouldn't want to impose." Jack said, trying to convince the woman.

"It's no imposition Jack." She replied bacl.

"If you're sure you don't mind. It would be a big help." Jack said as he caved. It was one of the best options for Claire's benefit.

"It's not a problem Jack. Honestly." The woman assured the father.

"Okay. Thank you so much Abigail. I insist you have my row house while I'm gone, there's enough space for you, Cody and Becky and it will be much less cramped than everyone here in the café, I'm sure. And I'll pay the rent and her school payments." Jack said quickly.

"If you insist we stay at your house that should be fine. Don't worry Jack, she will be fine. Don't worry about rent and payments, I can handle that." Abigail insisted.

"Thank you so much for this Abigail. You've been such a great friend these last few years, for both Claire and I. I'll help you move everything into my row house." Jack offered, giving the older woman a hug.

"That would be great help. Thank you Jack. And don't worry about Claire. She's in capable hands." Abigail assured the man again.

"We'll start moving things tomorrow, I leave at the end of the week, which gives us 4 days to move everything."

"Okay. Thank you Jack."

"Now I've just got to tell Claire. I don't know how she will cope or if she'll understand."

"I'm sure she will."

"I hope so. I'll see you at 8 tomorrow to start moving everything?"

"That sounds good. Now go tell your daughter."

* * *

It did not take long for Jack to find his daughter. She was happily playing on the grass with Opal, Cody and his dog, Dasher. The Mountie walked over to the children.

"Daddy!" Claire called when she spotted her father. The little girl got up and flew into her father's farms.

"Hello baby girl. Daddy needs to talk to you. How about we go for ice cream?" Jack asked the little girl. Her face lit up at the sound of the sweet treat.

"Okay Daddy. Bye Opal. Bye Cody. Bye Dasher." The little girl said to her friends as she squirmed out of her father's arms, holding his hand instead.

A few moments later, father and daughter walked out of a shop, ice creams in hand.

"Let's go sit outside the Café and chat." Jack said, leading the girl towards Abigail's Café, where he had been sitting not so long before. Claire happily sat at the table, Jack sat across form her.

"You know how Daddy's job means sometimes he has to go away for a while? And that he can't always take you with him?" Jack asked. They had talked about it before, when Jack went on short assignments.

"Yes." The girl replied, talking a lick of her ice cream, which was dripping down her little hand.

"Well, I have to go away again. And I don't know how long I will be gone for. It could be a very long time or just a couple months. It's too dangerous for you to come with me." Jack told the girl.

"Don't go Daddy. Who will take me to school?" The little girl quickly asked, tears forming in her eyes.

"Miss Abigail is going to look after you while I'm away. Cody and her are going to move into our house while I'm gone so you'll get to keep your room. And you'll go to school when the new teacher arrives." Jack answered as he pulled the little girl onto his lap. Claire instantly buried her head into his chest and began to cry.

"I'll miss you Daddy." The little girl mumbled between sobs into her father's chest.

"I know. I will too. But we can write letters. I will write some for you and Miss Abigail can help you write some back for me. Maybe your teacher can help you to write your own letters too. And I'll get a little time off hopefully to come see you. I'm not going forever sweetheart." He promised the little girl.

* * *

Four days later, Abigail and Cody were moved into Jack's row house. The spare room was big enough for two beds for when Becky comes around and Abigail took Jack's room, which he had cleaned out and put everything into storage.

The whole town was outside, lining the main street of Coal Valley, all waiting to farewell the Constable. Claire stood with Abigail, waiting for her father to come and bid her goodbye.

Jack came out from the jail. He took the reins of his horse and walked over to the café where his little girl was waiting. Abigail took the horse while Jack went up to his daughter.

"It's time for me to go baby girl."

"Don't go Daddy. Please." The little girl cried. Jack picked his daughter up and held her tight.

"Listen to me Claire. I have to go. But I'll be back. And we will write and I'll be back before you know it. Until then, you have school, so you'll get to spend more time with your friends. And Miss Abigail will be with you, and she's a much better cook than Daddy. I'm sorry sweetie but this is how it has to be. I'll be back. I promise." Jack said, trying to comfort the little girl. Her cries slowed and Jack carefully lowered her back onto the ground, giving her one final hug.

Jack kissed his daughter's cheek as he turned and got on his horse. He tilted his hat towards the little girl before turning his horse and riding off.

"Bye bye Daddy." The almost five year old called, opening and closing her little hand as to wave, tears still streaming down her face. Jack looked back for a second and waved, and in a moment he was gone from the little girl's sight.

* * *

 **My apologies if this defeats the purpose of my claim that this story isn't sad. But I swear, this is one of the only sad parts. I'm also sorry if Claire sounds a little older that she is (she's about a month off of being 5 years old). And there's a tiny little bit on Claire's mama. That part of the story is for later. And don't panic Hearties, you'll find out where Elizabeth is soon. xx**

 **Stay safe. Always smile. xxx**


	3. Chapter 3

The sun shone over Coal Valley as the afternoon stage drew to a halt. A woman, wearing a light blue dress, stepped out of the carriage. Her blonde hair was in a curly up do, covered slightly by a hat that matched her dress and bright blue eyes. The woman grabbed two large bags from the back of the stage and began walking in the direction of Abigail's Café.

It was quiet in the café, Abigail and Clara were cleaning the last of the lunch time tables and Becky was washing the dishes while Cody and Claire were occupied, sitting at the table, decorating cupcakes. The door of the Café opened, revealing a woman in a light blue dress, holding bags of luggage.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, I'm Elizabeth Thatcher, I'm the new teacher. I was just looking for someone who could point me to where I'm staying." The woman, Elizabeth introduced herself, putting her bags down and extending out her hand. Abigail walked over to the Elizabeth.

"I'm Abigail Stanton. You're a week early." She said, shaking the hand of the new teacher.

"Yes I am. I wanted to get here and become acquainted with the area before school starts." Elizabeth replied confidently.

"That's understandable. You'll be staying in the teacher's cottage, but it's still being fixed up for you. Until it's ready, you're welcome to stay with us, if you don't mind sleeping on the floor."

"I wouldn't want to impose. I'll just stay in your hotel."

"It's no imposition. With the new men coming in for the Sawmill, you won't ever get a room at the Saloon." Abigail said back quickly. Behind Abigail, Elizabeth could see a little girl whispering something to the boy next to her.

"Mom?" The boy interrupted. Abigail turned to face Cody.

"Yes Cody." Abigail replied. Elizabeth made a mental note to remember the boy, who would clearly be one of her student, and his name.

"Claire said that the teacher could take her room while until the house is ready. Claire can sleep with Becky and I." Cody said, voicing Claire's little whispers.

"Are you sure Claire?" Abigail asked the little girl, who just nodded in reply with a small smile on her face. Abigail turned back to face the teacher.

"There you go, you can stay in Claire's room until your cottage is ready." Abigail said in a kind tone. Elizabeth looked at the woman and smiled, then walked over to the table where the little girl and Cody stood.

"Thank you for letting me have your room. My name is Miss Thatcher. What's your name?" The teacher said kindly to the little girl, who stepped back and just stared at the older woman.

"Excuse me, Miss Thatcher. My name is Cody and you won't get anything out of Claire. She doesn't like to talk to strangers very much." Cody interrupted. Claire looked at the older boy and smiled, whilst Elizabeth stood there, a little, but not too surprised. She thought for a minute before changing the topic.

"Will I see you two is my class? How old are you both?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yes, Miss. I'm 11 and Claire just turned 5." The boy answered confidently. Abigail walked over to the group, tapping Becky's shoulder on the way, signalling the girl to follow her.

"Cody, Claire, if Miss Thatcher is going to stay in Claire's room, you two should go and clean the room and set up a space in on the floor for Claire, take some pillows and blankets to make it more comfortable."

"Okay mom." Cody said happily, taking Claire's hand and leaving the Café. Abigail watched the children leave before turning her focus back to Elizabeth and Beck.

"Elizabeth, this is my daughter Becky. She goes to a science and tech school in Nelson Ridge so you won't see her in your class but she'll show you around Coal Valley, leave you bags here and I'll take them up to the house." Abigail said kindly.

"Hello Becky. Shall we start this tour now?" Elizabeth asked the young girl.

"Okay. We'll start with the Mercantile." Becky said, gently taking Elizabeth's arm and leading the teacher out of the Café.

* * *

That night, with Elizabeth settled into Claire's room, the household and guests sat at Jack's dinner table after a delicious dinner, prepared by Abigail and Becky.

Earlier that afternoon, Becky had shown the new teacher around the small town. The teen introduced Elizabeth to some of the parents and residents of the town, including Rosemary and Lee Coulter and their one year old son, Patrick John (PJ).

The children began to pack up the table and wash the dishes, when they were done Claire and Cody said goodnight to the adults and Becky before heading upstairs for bed. With the two younger ones gone, Elizabeth decided it was time to get some answers.

"Abigail?" She asked.

"Yes?" The older woman replied, moving to sit diagonal from the teacher.

"I hope you don't mind me asking but where are your children's father?" Elizabeth asked curiously. Abigail was a little taken aback by the question.

"Becky and Cody are adopted. They were orphans living in the woods when Jack, the town's Mountie found them. Becky was really ill and Cody had been taking things from the kitchens of some of the residents. I took the two of them in, Becky spent some time in hospital but we try to forget those times. I officially adopted them about 8 months ago. As for Claire, I'm caring for her while her father is away. She's Jack's daughter. He was the constable of Coal Valley until he was called off on an indefinite posting in the Northern Territories, just over a month ago. I was married once, his name was Noah. He and my son, Peter, died in the mining accident we had a few years back."

"I'm so sorry for your losses." Elizabeth said sympathetically.

"Thank you." Abigail replied with a smile.

"Could you tell me more about Claire? Why didn't she go with her father?" Elizabeth asked, a hint of worry in her tone. Becky stood up and excused herself for the night.

"Claire and Jack Thornton came here 3 years ago. No one knows anything about their past except that her mother died when she was one. She is a very bright girl, always very cheerful. She's incredibly smart and talented. She's eager to start school so she can learn to read her father's letters and write her own for him. As for why she didn't go with Jack, it's simply much too dangerous up there. Jack would be spending all day everyday taking down gangs and she would be left alone, it just isn't safe and Mountie HQ specifically said she couldn't come. Why do you ask?" The older woman replied.

"I can see it in her. She's sad. Is she always so shy, I haven't heard her speak once." Elizabeth replied, concern in her voice.

"She's usually pretty bubbly but today she's been unusually quiet. I wouldn't be too concerned, she didn't sleep very well last night, that's probably why. I'm sure when school starts she'll be back to normal, she loves to talk about going to school." Abigail said reassuringly. The women continued to chat about the children for a while before both excused themselves for bed.

* * *

 **So there you go. Welcome Elizabeth Thatcher...**


	4. Chapter 4

p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Nine months later… /strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Miss Thatcher! Miss Thatcher!" Five year old, Claire Thornton, called excitedly as she burst into the saloon. It was an early Wednesday morning, school wasn't due to start for another 45 minutes./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Claire. Slow down. What's got you so excited?" Elizabeth said calmly with a smile as she got up, walked around to the little girl and knelt down to her level. Claire extended out her arm, a paper in her hand./p  
p class="MsoNormal""My daddy is coming home. He got all the bad guys and now he's coming home!" The little girl exclaimed excitedly. She was so excited, she could barely even stay still./p  
p class="MsoNormal""That's fantastic news Claire. When will he be back?" The teacher asked curiously./p  
p class="MsoNormal""The Mountie man's letter says he'll be back by Friday." Claire beamed happily./p  
p class="MsoNormal""That's great sweetie. Would you like to tell the class when everyone is here?" Elizabeth suggested happily. Claire suddenly gasped as her face lit up even more so./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Miss Thatcher? Could we make a banner so that Daddy knows he's in Coal Valley? He might have forgotten what it looks like." The little girl asked./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I doubt he could forget his home. But of course we could make a banner. What if we work on it as a class tomorrow? We can get ideas today and then tonight I'll get everything we need and then tomorrow we can spend the day making the banner." Elizabeth promised. Claire smiled before running out the room excitedly./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The woman was interested to meet the little girl's father. Claire and Elizabeth had become very close after Elizabeth found the little girl crying under her bed during a storm./p  
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Flash Back- 2 weeks after Elizabeth's arrival/em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Thunder crashed and large bolts of lightning lit up the sky as the summer storm rolled into Coal Valley. It was later afternoon, Elizabeth had been helping Becky with some of her studies when the storm came, and decided to stay the night at Abigail, well Jack's, place. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"After changing into some borrowed night clothes, the teacher heard quiet sobbing coming from Claire's room, where she had spent a week in when she first arrived. Elizabeth listened for a moment before knocking on the little girl's door./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""Claire, are you okay?" Elizabeth asked through the closed door. A short moment and no reply later, the teacher carefully opened the door, scanning the room for the little Thornton but the girl was nowhere to be seen. Quiet, muffled sobs continued, the concerned teacher followed to sound to Claire's neat bed. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Elizabeth carefully knelt down to the group and looked under the bed. Curled up in the back corner, behind a couple soft toys and an old blanket, was the tiny body of little Claire. The little girl's face was nuzzled into the blanket, muffling her sobs. The teacher's heart broke at the sight of the little girl. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""Claire? Sweetie, what's wrong?" Elizabeth asked, rolling herself under the bed, next to the little girl. Claire hesitantly moved the blanket from her face. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""Do you want me to get Miss Abigail?" The teacher questioned. Claire shock her head. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""Can you tell me what's going on then? Please?" Another head shake. Elizabeth thought quickly for an idea. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""Claire? Do you like hot chocolate?" The teacher asked curiously. The little girl's face lit up as she vigorously shook her head. Elizabeth smiled at her success. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""If I make you a hot chocolate, could you tell me what's wrong?" Elizabeth suggested. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""Yes, Miss Thatcher." Claire said with a smile. Both crawled out from under the bed/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Ten minutes later, the duo were sitting in the kitchen drinking fresh hot chocolate. Claire was quiet, just staring at her drink. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""I miss my dad. And I hate thunder." The little girl blurted out randomly, ending the silence. Elizabeth looked at Claire then placed her cup on the counter behind her and pulled the little girl into a hug. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;""Aw sweetheart. Thunder is nothing to worry about. It won't hurt you, I promise. Maybe this week we can learn about thunder at school so you don't have to be scared. As for missing your dad, I'm positive he misses you too. Would you feel better if we wrote a letter for him together?" Elizabeth suggested kindly to the little girl. Claire smiled at the idea. /em/p 


	5. Chapter 5

p class="MsoNormal"The small town of Coal Valley buzzed in excitement. In the saloon, Elizabeth Thatcher sat at her desk, watching the children put the finishing touches on their signs./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Miss Thatcher?" Opal and Claire both asked, raising from their seats and walking towards the teacher. Elizabeth smiled at the excited little girls./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Yes girls?" She replied. The girls held up their signs./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Do these look good? I want mine to be perfect for Daddy." Claire said confidently with a smile, the little girl could hardly contain her excitement./p  
p class="MsoNormal""It's beautiful. Both are. I'm sure your daddy will be proud." Elizabeth said with another smile./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Thank you, Miss Thatcher. When does Daddy get here?" Opal asked curiously, she too was excited for the Mountie's return./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Soon. In fact. Children please grab your signs and line up at the door. It's almost time for the Constable to return. Quickly." Elizabeth called out to the class. The children rose with excitement, grabbed their finished signs and quickly rushed to line up at the door. Elizabeth moved to the door also./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Alright children. Follow me." Elizabeth instructed as she opened the door and began to lead the children out of the saloon./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The street was busy as the whole down came out to welcome the Mountie back home. Hanging above the road was a large banner that the children had made. It read em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Welcome Home Mountie Jack/em and all the children and many of the adults had written their name on it. Lee Coulter had put the banner up the night before in preparation for the arrival./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Okay children. Come line up along the decking here. Make sure to hold up your signs nice and high so the constable can see when he rides in." Elizabeth reminded the children as she organised them in line across the decking. The members of the town also began to do the same, holding flags and signs of their own as the faint sound of galloping horses drew nearer and nearer./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Look over there." Someone called out as everyone looked down the road, cheering, to see a large sea of red serges and horses made their way into town. At the front of the group, was Coal Valley's constable, proudly riding in, searching for his young daughter./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Elizabeth watched from behind the children as the Mounties drew nearer. She had to shake her head and take another look as she watched the Mountie at the front./p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"'No.'/em She thought to herself. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"'It couldn't be.' /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"As Jack got closer and closer to the children, his face became clear to Elizabeth. It was him. Her fears had been confirmed. Elizabeth caught Jack looking at her and quickly turned and ran towards the café./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Daddy!" Little Claire called excitedly as her father stop his horse in from of the children. Jack swung off his horse and ran to his young daughter./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Hi sweetie. I've missed you so much." Jack said, breathing heavily as he picked the 5 year old up into an embrace. Claire began to sob into her father's neck./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I missed you too Daddy." The little girl muttered between sobs as she held on tightly to her father./p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Meanwhile…/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Abigail and Rosemary watched with concern as Elizabeth suddenly ran off. Before walking off, Abigail turned to Rosie and said./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Rosemary, watch the children, I'll go see what's wrong with her."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"The older woman entered the café through the back door quietly where she saw Elizabeth leaning on a chair breathing heavily, tears streaming down her cheeks. Abigail slowly moved towards the younger woman./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Elizabeth?" She said quietly, making her presence known to the young teacher. "Are you alright?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal""I'm fine. I just didn't feel well." Elizabeth lied, trying to settle her breathing./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I can tell you're lying. Elizabeth, you can tell me anything. I promise." The older woman pushed, making Elizabeth sigh in defeat./p  
p class="MsoNormal""There's no point arguing. That man. The Mountie. Jack. Claire's father. Whatever you know him as. I has my suspicions based off the names and stories, I just didn't think it to be possible. I didn't want it to be possible. Until now."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Until what Elizabeth? What's going on?" Abigail asked intrigued and worried for the woman./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I uh-uh. Um. Seven years ago, I met a man. He was a Mountie. My father had ordered him to watch me in Vancouver when I moved there to work on my first teaching post. The Mountie's name was Jack. Jack Thornton." Elizabeth stated./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Our Jack Thornton?" Abigail questioned, shocked, already assuming the answer./p  
p class="MsoNormal""The very same. We hadn't known each other more than 6 months before we started courting. It was wrong but Jack understood my need to find who I really am span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanand I felt comfortable with him. We married after a year. A month after our wedding, I fell with child. Our daughter, Clarissa Jane or as we nicknamed her, Claire." Elizabeth continued, taking a deep breath and sighing at the end./p  
p class="MsoNormal""You were married to Constable Thornton and you're Claire's mother." Abigail stated for confirmation. Elizabeth just nodded./p  
p class="MsoNormal""But Jack said that his wife died." Abigail added./p  
p class="MsoNormal""That's because he thought I did. My late father, William Thatcher, owned Hamilton Shipping, a large company that drew a lot of trouble to our family. There were two men who worked for my father, one was a childhood friend and another, a con man. Both men tried to pursue and banded together after I rejected them. They were after me even though I was married and a mother. It got to the stage where I was in real danger and the police got involved. They relocated me to a small town in the United States while they searched for the men. I was Elizabeth but with a different last name and different look. I lived there until it was safe for me to come home. I couldn't bring my family, it wasn't fair on Jack and both would be put in danger. So they told Jack I had died in a car accident on the way home from school. I missed the dearly but I wanted to protect them." Elizabeth said with a frown, tears welling up in her eyes./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Oh dear. That must have been hard on you and your family. I'm so sorry Elizabeth. If you're here now, then what happened between then and now?" The woman asked curiously, sitting down opposite Elizabeth, giving the teacher an encouraging smile./p  
p class="MsoNormal""A year ago, I was told I was free to return to my life but when I got back, everything was different. Jack had been reassigned his posting and I had no idea where he was, my parents both passed while I was gone, my sisters were living in the mansion with their husbands and children. I thought Jack had moved on and I didn't want to disrupt that. So, when I heard about this teaching position, I decided to accept it and come here. I didn't know Jack and Claire would be here." The young teacher said, wiping her eyes with her hand./p  
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="text-decoration: underline;"To be continued… /span/em/strong/p 


	6. AN - Apologies

**A/N**

 **I am immensely sorry for not updating Of Caterpillars and Butterflies. There were/are some serious mistakes on my part, regarding story line and time, which I'm slowly working on fixing. It is a slow process currently as I am behind in some of my studies and have exams coming up at the end of the month.I request that you please be understanding and patient as I get this work completed, I promise I will have a new chapter up hopefully before June.**

 **In the meantime, I have started writing, yet another story, which I am working very hard on. I'm not expecting it to be a super long running series. It will also consist of relatively short chapters, as it is much easier for me to just jump on and write a 500-1000ish word chapter, meaning it will have more regular updates. I am immensely impressed with this new story myself and cannot wait to publish it. I'm currently pre-writing some chapters, so I can make sure everything is smooth and so that I can make any additional changes in the storyline. Stay on the look out for it, I can't give you a title yet, but keep an eye out for anything new from me.**

 **I also have a long series that I've started, it won't be posted for a long time yet, as I would like to work on it, full book finished before I post.**

 **On a sad note, I am putting A Different Story into Hiatus for the mean time. I don't want to disappoint anyone, but after the wedding and the finale, I was and still am very demotivated with this story. I may bring it back, probably re-written. But for now, it will stay as it is. I'm very sorry to the readers who loved this storyline and little Claire.**

 **As for Jack's Letters, the re-write for this has been put on temporary hold until after my exams. I wasn't sure about posting new chapters to it after the finale, as was set during the Northern Territories time and I didn't want to confuse anyone with a new fic about Jack after his death when it wasn't corresponding to his real death. If that makes any sense.**

 **And finally, I want to say a big thank you to all my readers for being patient with my slow, almost never updates and also my helpful little proof-readers/editors (Anja and Kristyn).**

 **God bless you all, I love you all so much.**

 **Anna aka thatchersheart. xx**


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